New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder

Nov. 26, 2004

Page 4 of 6

Helping fuel the gay hate crime theory were statements
made to police and the media by Kristen Price,
McKinney's girlfriend. (Price was charged with felony accessory after-the-fact to first-degree murder. She later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor interference with police officers.)

Price now says that at the time of the crime she
thought things would go easier for McKinney if his
violence were seen as a panic reaction to an unwanted
gay sexual advance.

But today, Price tells Vargas the initial statements
she made were not true and tells Vargas that McKinney's
motive was money and drugs. "I don't think it was a
hate crime at all. I never did," she said.

Former Laramie Police Detective Ben Fritzen, one of
the lead investigators in the case, also believed
robbery was the primary motive. "Matthew Shepard's
sexual preference or sexual orientation certainly
wasn't the motive in the homicide," he said.

"If it wasn't Shepard, they would have found another
easy target. What it came down to really is drugs and
money and two punks that were out looking for it,"
Fritzen said.

'All I Wanted to Do Was Beat Him Up and Rob
Him'

Asked directly whether he targeted and attacked
Shepard because he was gay, McKinney told Vargas, "No.
I did not. ... I would say it wasn't a hate crime. All
I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him."

But if the attackers were just trying to rob someone
to get a drug fix, why did they beat Shepard so
savagely?

Rerucha attributes McKinney's rage and his savage
beating of Shepard to his drug abuse. "The
methamphetamine just fueled to this point where there
was no control. It was a horrible, horrible, horrible
murder. It was a murder that was once again driven by
drugs," Rerucha said.

Dr. Rick Rawson, a professor at UCLA who has studied
the link between methamphetamine and violence, tells
"20/20" the drug can trigger episodes of violent
behavior.

"In the first weeks after you've stopped using it, the
kinds of triggers that can set off an episode are
completely unpredictable. It can be: you say a word
with the wrong inflection, you touch someone on the
shoulder. It's completely unpredictable as to what
will set somebody off" Rawson said.

"If Aaron McKinney had not become involved with methamphetamine, Matthew Shepard would be alive today," Rerucha said.

Did Matthew Shepard Know His Killers?

Another widely held belief about the case is that
McKinney and Shepard had never met before their
fateful encounter at the Fireside Lounge. But a number
of sources tell "20/20" the two were not strangers.

"Everybody knew Matt Shepard was a partier just like
Aaron, just like the rest of us," said Bopp.

In fact, Bopp said he had seen Shepard and McKinney
together at parties. "Aaron was selling [drugs] and
him and Matt would go off to the side and they'd come
back. And Matt would be doing some meth then," he
said.

Though they frequented the same party scene, McKinney
maintains he had never met Shepard before the night of
the crime and wonders why people might say he had.
"I've never met him. ... Maybe they seen us somewhere
in the same spot or something. I don't know," McKinney
said.

A bartender familiar with the local drug scene, who
asked to be identified only as "Jean," says she was
friendly with Shepard. She also says McKinney and
Shepard knew each other.